Kota Paris Indah Khabar dari Rupa? Dari Kaca Mata Backpacker

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

Salam berisi doa buat semua agar harimu diberkati sentiasa.

Catatan ini berdasarkan pengalaman sendiri berada di bumi Paris selama 4 hari 3 malam dan segala yang diluahkan hanyalah pendapat sendiri. Memang tak lama di sana, tapi pengalaman itu sangat bermakna. Serious!

23hb – 26hb April 2015

Alhamdulillah first time ever menjejakkan kaki di negara Perancis and of course like most of us, Paris would definitely be the first place to visit in France. Dikhabarkan ia sebuah kota cinta yang sangat romantis dan tempat yang paling diidam-idamkan setiap pasangan bercinta. Well, at least that’s what we thought before we’ve been there.

Kat sini just nak share beberapa kejadian tak berapa nak indah sepanjang berada di Paris mengikut kronologi. But I must say all these kind of ‘interesting’ experience for us, bila lagi nak rasa..kan?

#1 Flight dicepatkan – Bermalam di kerusi Heathrow

KLM Airlines did informed us that our flight from London to Paris gonna be earlier than scheduled dan disebabkan underground di London tak ada pagi-pagi (6.55 am departure time) so we slept the whole night atas kerusi di Heathrow.

Moral of the story, it is better to go anywhere around European countries using Euro Train because it is much easier to get to the train central rather than Heathrow Airport.  

Tips: Sangat sejuk jadi DATANG AWAL untuk pilih port best yang jauh dari pintu (everytime orang keluar/masuk angin sejuk pun masuk) dan pakai baju tebal.

Some of the waiting passengers even slept in the sleeping bag atas lantai, lebih selesa dan tidak ada orang akan halau.

If nak beli anything, do it before 12 a.m (if not mistaken) sebab the whole airport will be closed after that!

#2 Flying to Paris as a transit passenger – Luggage issue (Hampir dibawa ke Uganda)

While checking-in our luggage, we were in the lane among all black people and my husband and I were like “Orang Paris kulit hitam ke? (not trying to be racist at all) Tengok dalam tv macam tak tapi kenapa…”

The whole journey we really thought perhaps they are Parisian until finally when we almost lost our luggage barulah sedar tadi tu tumpang flight diorang. Nak pergi Uganda kalau tak silap dan kami ni kira transit ke Paris. Lama tunggu luggage keluar dan hanya luggage kami (6 person) plus 1 other passenger je yang ada.

Tips: Never assume, just ask. Malu bertanya sesat jalan or in our case well, untuk yang tak tahu orang Paris putih hokey.

#3 Bought the wrong ticket – Kicked out from train and stranded halfway

Mencari arah di negara asing dengan halangan bahasa tentunya tak mudah especially in the Charles de Gaulle Airport. They do provide a tiny kiosk for you to ask for direction and all, and yes they do speak English tapi tak ada lah membantu sangat.

Pendekkan cerita, kami salah beli tiket dan kurang bernasib baik bila halfway to our destination there these bunch of officers checking our tickets. Mereka langsung tak nak cakap English dan macam marah-marah dalam French until finally one of them said “You’ll be fined but if you don’t want to, leave on the next station”

Maka turunlah kami semua di station seterusnya dan beli balik tiket untuk sambung perjalanan. Terkandaslah juga sekejap ntah kat mana-mana tu dengan panas terik tengah hari Paris. Menarik right?

Tips: Study the train and ticketing system so you won’t be kicked out but if you the kind of a person who hunger for adventure, buy any ticket you want (tips ke ni?)

#4 Lost purse in La Valle Village – Spend the evening in police station

Right after we arrived and checked-in to Residhome AppartHotel, we headed straight to La Valle Village – a heaven to shoppers, obviously not me. Few minutes arrived and suddenly my bil told us that mom-in-law lost her purse.

We are aware of pick-pockets way before we came to Europe and you can say that we were prepared. Mak mertua lah yang paling cautious sekali tapi benda nak jadi so jadi juga lah, Kun Fa Ya kun.  

Mama lost her pounds and euros, bank card and ic dan syukurlah bukannya passport. The pick-pockets there are professional and no wonder lah waktu di main entrance ramai betul yang jaga sambil suruh buka beg tunjuk what’s inside.

Perkara ini terlalu serasi dengan Paris so La Valle Village tu memang ada transport khas untuk hantar dan jemput mangsa pick-pocket macam mama to nearest police station. Dan di police station tu pun sama je, katanya nisbah tourist jadi mangsa dengan tourist adalah 1:2 which is basically semua orang akan kena. Macam tu je? Tak ada effort pun nak cari solution to this issue mungkin sebab corrupted.

Tips: Pakailah neck purse, ikat kat perut or baju haji yang poket didada tu dan bawa duit cukup-cukup untuk belanja – NOT more.

Prepare international phone number for your banks so if things like this happen, call them immediately.

No matter how well you are equipped if Allah kata nak jadi, jadi juga. Doa pelindung diri dan if terjadi, redha.

#5 Nyaris kena paw dengan alcoholic right in front of mini mart

Hungry that night 5 of us went for a night walk to find dinner and bil nak beli chocolate di mini mart – ramai orang dalam tu. So 4 of us waited outside and saw this one alcoholic berdiri je kat pintu depan mart tu dan paw sesiapa saja yang keluar dari situ.

Once we were aware of this, we alerted our brother unfortunately he didn’t get us dan seperti yang dijangka memang alcoholic tu datang kat dia dan tadah tangan minta duit. So I grabbed him immediately dan kami jalan laju-laju pergi dari situ!

Frankly speaking, Paris memang tak seindah mana sebab di sepanjang pedestrian walk always ada alcoholic or homeless yang terbaring sambil minta duit untuk beli arak atau dah pengsan sebab terlalu mabuk. Balcony of the shop lots hancing dan kebanyakan monument vandalized! Sayang..

Inilah hikmahnya mengapa Allah mengharamkan arak. Rakyat Paris mabuk dek kencing syaitan yang begitu murah dan mudah didapati dan akhirnya immigrants yang membangunkan ekonomi Paris dengan berniaga.

Tips: Never walk alone!

Be EXTRA cautious when walking during night even if you are in a group.

JAUHI ARAK! Punca segala kemaksiatan (Okay ni bukan tips but more on amal makhruf nahi mungkar)

#6 Dihimpit ‘free-passenger’ setiap kali keluar masuk train ticketing gate

Setiap kali touch tiket untuk masuk train sure akan ada ‘free-passenger’ yang menghimpit kami. Walaupun kami tak cedera atau diragut si penumpang percuma tapi rasa marah bila kita menjadi medium jenayah meraka.

Strategi mereka – aim for group tourists yang nak naik train. They’ll wait closely behind us and when exactly the door opens and we walk through it, mereka akan himpit dan lari laju-laju. Ada one time tu bil walk through the gate dan termasuk dia, 4 orang Berjaya lepas gate tu. It means 3 orang ‘free- passengers’ imagine!

Tips:  Always be alert bila nak keluar/masuk any checked-in gates. Kalau boleh ada member yang perhatikan dan go in slowly in a group.

            When there are 4 gates to enter but a stranger only wait ‘patiently’ exactly behind you, for sure he is a ‘free-passenger’ and what I did was walk super duper slow gila kat gate tu dan heret luggage perlahan-lahan. They don’t mind pun tersepit dan kita puas!

#7 Dikejar ‘scammers’ everytime everywhere

Terlalu ramai scammers di Paris sampai nak jalan take picture pun kinda hard sometimes. Itulah yang ironinya, immigrants bekerja berniaga cari rezeki halal dan rakyatnya pula berlumba-lumba jadi kaki mabuk, penipu dan pencuri.  

Tips: Jangan layan sesiapa pun tapi macam mana nak beza orang baik dengan scammers? Muka diorang serious muka jahat. Betul, tak tipu.

Bila scammers tu datang je, terus jerit kecil panggil polis. InshaAllah lari.

Di Eiffel Tower ada sekumpulan orang kulit hitam yang jual Eiffel tower for bargain price, they are NOT scammers. Orang jahat di sana muka French, putih European looks so if muka immigrants tu memang just nak business. 

Itulah pengalaman tak nberapa best di Paris yang diharap dapat jadi pengajaran buat semua! Assalamualaikum.